Monastery of John the Baptist (Kardzhali)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The newly built monastery church

The monastery of John the Baptist ( Bulgarian Свети Йоан Продром Sweti Joan Prodrom or Свети Йоан Предтеча ) is a former, Orthodox monastery in Kardzhali in the Rhodope Mountains in southern Bulgaria . It existed from 7./8. to the 14th century and is one of the 100 national tourist objects in the country listed by the Bulgarian Tourist Association .

location

The monastery is located in the town of Kardzhali in the Weseltschane district (Bulgarian Веселчане) in the eastern Rhodope Mountains and lies on the northern bank of the Arda River .

history

The remains of the building that exist today were part of a large monastery complex, which was opened from the 7th / 8th centuries. Century, after the end of iconoclasm in the Byzantine Empire , emerged. Since its foundation, the monastery has been the center of Christianity in the Eastern Rhodope Mountains.

In the 9th century, probably with the Christianization of Bulgaria and during the "Golden Age" under Tsar Simeon , the monastery was considerably expanded. From archaeological excavations it is concluded that there were several churches used at the same time in the monastery. All are built in the Byzantine style with a strong Athos influence and probably date from the same period. Also the square plan of the double fortress wall from the 10th / 11th. Century is based on the Athos monasteries.

The monastery was the center of one of the largest medieval eparchies - Ahridos , seat of an archbishop and surrounded by strong fortress walls. The monastery complex grew by additional buildings in the following centuries. Later it became the seat of a metropolitan .

In the 11th century the monastery church was replaced by a larger one. It was a three-aisled and three-coupling structure, which is similar to the monastery church of the Athos monastery Megisti Lavra . This church is a typical example of the transition from the basilica to the cross-domed church . The construction of a burial chapel, in which a Christian missionary was probably buried , also fell during this period .

The monastery was sacked in 1207 by crusaders under Boniface of Montferrat , king of Thessaloniki. On their way back to the Kingdom of Thessaloniki , however, they were killed in an ambush by the Bulgarian Tsar Kaloyan . According to Prof. Nikolaj Ovtscharow , the monastery was destroyed when Boniface was sacked, but was later rebuilt.

Probably the monastery was set on fire and finally destroyed in 1362 when the Ottoman Turks subjugated the entire region.

Part of the preserved fortress walls

Since the river Arda changed its course over the centuries, only three fortress walls are preserved today - the southern, western and eastern, as well as the bishop's palace, the refectory (dining room), the monastery kitchen and baths, the Necessarium and some of the monastery churches. The main building, where the majority of the monks' cells and the administration were located, was largely washed away by the river and is located in today's river bed.

During the restoration of the monastery church, the preserved frescoes were removed. They are now in the Kardzhali Municipal Museum. The restoration was carried out under the condition that the typical Athos style of the building should be preserved. When the frescoes from the 13th century were demolished, however, further wall paintings from the 9th century and two crucifixes from the 11th century were found. A glass censer with silver fittings was also found. It is the oldest found in south-eastern Europe and is believed to have come from Egypt .

During the restoration of one of the crucifixes, small containers were discovered in which pieces of wood were hidden. It is believed that it is a relic of the cross of Christ .

With financial support from the European Commission for Culture and Cultural Assets , one of the monastery churches and some monastery buildings were rebuilt and consecrated in 2000. Today the monastery is used again by monks and is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Bulgaria.

Excavations

Part of the ruins of the monastery was uncovered by local amateur archaeologists in the 1930s, but remained unexplored for a long time. In 1962, further sections of the former monastery and the monastery church were discovered by chance during construction work. However, the archaeological excavations did not begin until the mid-1980s under the direction of Nikolai Ovcharow. The foundation and fortress walls of the former large monastery complex were uncovered. In the center, the floor plans of the monastery church were discovered, which in some places were preserved up to 3.5 m high and painted with frescoes . The archaeologists assumed a monastery that was built at the end of the 13th century and was the seat of an archbishop .

In 1998, the Foundation for Christian architecture and art "Nikola Fitschew - Zahari Zograf" (bulg Фондация за християнска архитектура и изкуство "Никола Фичев - Захарий Зограф";. Nikola Fitschew , Zahari Zograf ) the excavation and restoration of the monastery church. The last research work was carried out under the direction of Nikolaj Owtscharow and Daniela Kodschamanowa (Bulgarian Даниела Коджаманова).

The foundations of an older church from the 9th century were discovered. She had three (western, northern and southern) narthexes . Among them, three crypts were discovered in which five archbishops were buried. The sixth of these graves was hermetically sealed, which suggests a buried person of high social or ecclesiastical rank. This person was buried with a very well preserved epitrachelion made of golden silk, in the middle of which the figure of the Mother of God can be seen. The masterful Epitrachelion was probably made in Constantinople . So far only four such precious epithelium have been found worldwide; in Bulgaria it is the first of its kind. This find speaks for the importance of this monastery for Christianity. Some Bulgarian researchers assume that the find is the bones of Euthymios of Tarnowo , the last Bulgarian patriarch before the subjugation of Bulgaria by the Ottomans. However, the hypothesis is only based on the tradition that Euthymius was exiled by the Ottomans to the military and administrative district of Macedonia , and that the monastery was destroyed at a later date - after 1362.

Web links

Commons : Sweti Joan Prodrom Monastery  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History of the city of Kardzhali: The medieval monastery "Sweti Joan Predretscha", p. 5.

Coordinates: 41 ° 39 ′ 0 ″  N , 25 ° 22 ′ 0 ″  E